Kirk Elder is Life President of The Peebles Showboaters Amateur Dramatic Society. For many years a columnist on The Scotsman newspaper, he is currently "in recovery" from the experience. He enjoys parma violets, cloudless winter nights, and the films of Mr Burt Lancaster. He is currently writing his autobiography, "And Not For the Better".

Friday, March 03, 2006

The Scottish Affairs Committee, continued.

More from that House of Commons committee on the benefits to Scotland of the London Olympics. After a discussion of stadiums, Mr Angus MacNeil, SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar asks how Scotland compares to Norway. Ms Lindsay Macgregor, Policy Manager, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, replies: "I think economic and cultural differences as well makes comparison different, but certainly climatically it has its emphasis on skiing and snow and there is a cultural difference, that many people from childhood are driven in that direction. Perhaps we are lacking something like that; perhaps football is our equivalent here, I do not know."Mr Charles Walker, Conservative MP for that well-known Scottish constituency of Broxbourne, adds: "It is a great shame that Scotland's mountains are not 2000 feet taller, is it not, because you would be one of the best ski resorts in the western world!"In a hostile world, it is reassuring to know that we are governed by such perspicacious and witty folk.